Puncturing signaling channel for a wireless communication system

Abstract

A signaling channel that punctures traffic channels is used to send signaling, e.g., acknowledgments (ACKs). To send signaling, resources for the signaling channel are determined, e.g., based on a frequency hopping pattern. Signaling is spread with a spreading code (e.g., a Walsh code) to generate spread signaling, which is mapped to the resources for the signaling channel. Each resource may be partitioned into multiple clusters. A signaling message may be mapped to different clusters to achieve diversity. Traffic data may also be mapped to other resources for a traffic channel assigned for use. Traffic data mapped to the other resources for the signaling channel is punctured. The mapped signaling and traffic data are further processed (e.g., for OFDM or SC-FDMA) and transmitted.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. An apparatus comprising:
 at least one processor configured to map signaling of an acknowledgement message for at least one received data transmission to resources of a traffic channel for wireless communications by reassigning a portion of the traffic channel such that the portion of the traffic channel is used for transmitting the acknowledgement message, the traffic channel being mapped to a sequence of time-frequency blocks that hop across frequency in different time intervals to identify that the portion of the traffic channel is reassigned for transmitting the acknowledgement message, and the acknowledgement message being a 1-bit acknowledgement message conveyed by a plurality of symbols via the portion of the traffic channel, and to encode a plurality of bits corresponding to the acknowledgment message separately from traffic data of the traffic channel; and 
 a memory coupled to the at least one processor. 
 
     
     
       2. The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine the resources for the signaling of the acknowledgement message based on a frequency hopping pattern. 
     
     
       3. The apparatus of  claim 1 ,
 wherein the at least one processor is configured to spread the signaling of the acknowledgement message with a spreading code to convey the 1-bit acknowledgement message using the plurality of symbols, and 
 wherein the spreading code is derived from a Hadamard matrix or a Fourier matrix. 
 
     
     
       4. The apparatus of  claim 1 ,
 wherein the resources comprise multiple time-frequency segments, and 
 wherein the at least one processor is configured to, when mapping the signaling of the acknowledgement message to the resources, map the signaling of the acknowledgement message to the multiple time-frequency segments in the portion of the traffic channel. 
 
     
     
       5. The apparatus of  claim 4 , wherein the signaling of the acknowledgement message observes interference from a different set of transmitters in each of the multiple time-frequency segments. 
     
     
       6. The apparatus of  claim 4 , wherein the multiple time-frequency segments cover different frequency subcarriers. 
     
     
       7. The apparatus of  claim 4 ,
 wherein the resources comprise multiple time-frequency segments that each comprise multiple clusters, and 
 wherein the at least one processor is configured to map the signaling of the acknowledgement message to clusters covering different time intervals in the multiple time-frequency segments. 
 
     
     
       8. A method comprising:
 mapping signaling of an acknowledgement message for at least one received data transmission to resources of a traffic channel for wireless communications by reassigning a portion of the traffic channel such that the portion of the traffic channel is used for transmitting the acknowledgement message, the traffic channel being mapped to a sequence of time-frequency blocks that hop across frequency in different time intervals to identify that the portion of the traffic channel is reassigned for transmitting an acknowledgement message; 
 mapping the resources for the signaling of the acknowledgement message so that the portion of the traffic channel is reassigned from the traffic channel such that a transmitter and a receiver are able to identify when the portion of the traffic channel is reassigned for transmitting the acknowledgement message, wherein the acknowledgement message is a 1-bit acknowledgement message conveyed by a plurality of symbols via the portion of the traffic channel; and 
 encoding a plurality of bits corresponding to the acknowledgment message separately from traffic data of the traffic channel. 
 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 8 , further comprising determining the resources for the signaling of the acknowledgement message based on a frequency hopping pattern. 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 8 , further comprising spreading the signaling of the acknowledgement message with a spreading code to convey the 1-bit acknowledgement message using the plurality of symbols,
 wherein the spreading code is derived from a Hadamard matrix or a Fourier matrix. 
 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 8 ,
 wherein the resources comprise multiple time-frequency segments, and 
 wherein mapping the signaling of the acknowledgement message to the resources comprises mapping the signaling of the acknowledgement message to the multiple time frequency segments in the portion of the traffic channel. 
 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 11 , wherein the signaling of the acknowledgement message observes interference from a different set of transmitters in each of the multiple time-frequency segments. 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 11 , wherein the multiple time-frequency segments cover different frequency subcarriers. 
     
     
       14. The method of  claim 11 ,
 wherein the resources comprise multiple time-frequency segments that each comprise multiple clusters, and 
 wherein mapping the signaling of the acknowledgement message comprises mapping the signaling message to clusters covering different time intervals in the multiple time-frequency segments. 
 
     
     
       15. An apparatus comprising:
 means for mapping signaling of an acknowledgement message for at least one received data transmission to resources of a traffic channel by reassigning a portion of the traffic channel such that the portion of the traffic channel is used for transmitting the acknowledgement message, the traffic channel being mapped to a sequence of time-frequency blocks that hop across frequency in different time intervals to identify that the portion of the traffic channel is reassigned for transmitting the acknowledgement message; 
 means for mapping the resources for the signaling of an acknowledgement message so that the portion of the traffic channel is reassigned from the traffic channel such that a transmitter and a receiver are able to identify when the portion of the traffic channel is reassigned for transmitting the acknowledgement message, wherein the acknowledgement message is a 1-bit acknowledgement message conveyed by a plurality of symbols via the portion of the traffic channel; and 
 means for encoding a plurality of bits corresponding to the acknowledgment message separately from traffic data of the traffic channel. 
 
     
     
       16. The apparatus of  claim 15 , further comprising means for determining the resources for the signaling of the acknowledgement message based on a frequency hopping pattern. 
     
     
       17. The apparatus of  claim 15 , further comprising means for spreading the signaling of the acknowledgement message with a spreading code to convey the 1-bit acknowledgement message using the plurality of symbols,
 wherein the spreading code is derived from a Hadamard matrix or a Fourier matrix. 
 
     
     
       18. The apparatus of  claim 15 ,
 wherein the signaling of the acknowledgement message observes interference from a different set of transmitters in each of the multiple time-frequency segments, 
 wherein the resources comprise multiple time-frequency segments that cover different frequency subcarriers, and 
 wherein the means for mapping the signaling of the acknowledgement message to the resources comprises means for mapping the signaling of the acknowledgement message to the multiple time frequency segments. 
 
     
     
       19. The apparatus of  claim 15 ,
 wherein the resources comprise time-frequency segments that each comprise multiple clusters, and 
 wherein mapping the signaling messages comprise mapping the signaling of the acknowledgement message to clusters covering different time intervals in the multiple time-frequency segments. 
 
     
     
       20. A non-transitory processor readable media comprising instructions which executed by a processor, cause the processor to:
 map signaling of an acknowledgement message for at least one received data transmission to resources of a traffic channel for wireless communications by reassigning a portion of the traffic channel such that the portion of the traffic channel is used for transmitting the acknowledgement message, the traffic channel being mapped to a sequence of time-frequency blocks that hop across frequency in different time intervals to identify that the portion of the traffic channel is reassigned for transmitting the acknowledgement message; 
 map the resources for the signaling of an acknowledgement message so that the portion of the traffic channel is reassigned from the traffic channel such that a transmitter and a receiver are able to identify when the portion of the traffic channel is reassigned for transmitting the acknowledgement message, wherein the acknowledgement message is a 1-bit acknowledgement message conveyed by a plurality of symbols via the portion of the traffic channel; and 
 encode a plurality of bits corresponding to the acknowledgment message separately from traffic data of the traffic channel.